Earlier this year, the Montana State Senate made national news when legislators proposed creating a $25 “touring cyclist tax,” which would require visiting cyclists to buy a permit in order to ride on 2-lane roads state-wide. Senate President Scott Sales was the most outspoken about the proposal, saying that cyclists were self centered and rude … Continue reading
I am fortunate to work at a school with such an incredible arts program. Whether students spend one year here or fourteen, they have many chances to share their creative selves with teachers and each other daily. From performances at Grandparents and Special Friends Day, to Revels and Spring Festival, our students consistently blow us … Continue reading
It’s like the beginning of a folk tale or maybe a scary bedtime story: On the top of the hill sits a decrepit old schoolhouse, sandy brick crumbling under the weight of decades of disuse. Ivy climbs the walls, mercilessly feeling its way up towards a weak sun, its resilient, snaking roots latching on to … Continue reading
Portlanders are bookish. From Annie Blooms to Reading Frenzy to Cameron’s to Wallace Books to Write Around Portland to Powells, City of Books (a literary mecca as the largest independent bookstore in the world), Portlanders find every opportunity to put their nose in a book or put a pen to paper. I am proud to … Continue reading
Returning to a city you used to inhabit after a few months away is akin to focusing a manual camera- a twisting of the lens that causes the world around you to expand and contract, blur and sharpen, until the truth of the scene is finally revealed. This striving to adjust to rhythms that were … Continue reading
Portlanders, as a whole, have been defined and stereotyped by many iconic actions, most publicly in recent months by the IFC show “Portlandia.” In my experience, acting like a “Portlander” is more of a feeling, an abstract state of mind, than concrete actions, but nevertheless, there are many things that most Portlanders have been identified … Continue reading
I recently received an amazing book for a goodbye gift, a tomb I’d been drooling over at San Francisco bookstores for months. It is called Infinite City, a feat of a project done by Rebecca Solnit. Infinite City turns traditional cartography on its head, presenting 22 unique maps pairing landmarks of San Francisco in unusual … Continue reading
In the midst of packing my possessions in San Francisco and moving back to my hometown of Portland, Oregon, I didn’t find the time to finish my Sacred Places of San Francisco series. Excuse the fact that I am no longer living in the beloved city of San Francisco as I write these last two entries. For my … Continue reading
You are walking down Market near Castro- the hustle and the bustle, the open-air restaurant seating reminiscent of Parisian cafés, male couples walking hand-in-hand down the street, the hum and honk of cars speeding down one of San Francisco’s busiest thoroughfares, the noise, the exhaust. So many pairs of legs walking, rainbow flags flapping in … Continue reading
We’re all in transit, constantly moving- feet, bicycle, car, train, streetcar, bus, airplane, boat, freighter, wagon, stroller, piggyback, rickshaw, motorcycle, moped, scooter, horse- mostly with wheels. This is how we get around, find ourselves transported from place to place. And even when we are sitting in our chairs or laying down in our beds sleeping, we … Continue reading
in the midst 